Ridiculous Day part of 175th celebration

By Xiomara Levsen | Feb 07, 2014

An organizational meeting was held this morning for Ridiculous Day, which will be on Saturday, June 7, as part of the weeklong celebration for Washington’s 175th birthday. Historically, Ridiculous Day is always held the first Saturday in June, said Washington Chamber of Commerce Director Michelle Redlinger. The goal of the meeting was to organize multiple committees for that Saturday to help with all of the different events happening on that day. “This is going to be the biggest, most outrageous, Ridiculous Day of the whole celebration and we’re going to need to break this into manageable pieces to pull this off,” Redlinger said. Some of the annual events held in the past on Ridiculous Day will still be held including Ridiculous Day retail deals, ducks in the fountain, duct tape contest, the minute to win it contest, the princess and superhero contest, and the parade. “The parade this year is probably going to look a little different this year than it has in the past,” Redlinger said. “We’re going to have a lot more participation. This year is an election year—we’ll have some participation that way, and we’re probably going to look at some ways we can increase the quality of our floats this year and see what we can do, so that’s an opportunity we’ll be redefining on this day.” One of the new additions to Ridiculous Day will be the Bill Reilly talent show. This will be one of two opportunities for people to come and perform in the talent show in Washington. Kristen Anderson is the committee leader for the talent show during Ridiculous Day. Anderson has experience running the Bill Reilly talent show at a city celebration. She was in charge of it for Ainsworth Days for a number of years. “I just hope that we have a great turnout for that,” Anderson said. “In Ainsworth I’ve had as many as 14 in each division, which is awesome. I’ve had kids come as far as away as Des Moines, Burlington—I mean they come from far away. If we have a great event that day they’re going to come and hopefully stay for the weekend and enjoy Washington.” The talent show is tentatively scheduled from 2 – 4 p.m. and will be held on the bandshell stage in Central Park. The next opportunity for participants to perform in the talent show will be held during the Washington County Fair. Another new addition will be ending the evening. Bands will begin performing at 6 p.m. and will tentatively end around midnight. Local entertainers will kick off the performances alongside a street dance, bags tournament, and maybe beer tents, Redlinger said. “We’ve secured one band that is very similar to ‘Hairball,’ “ Redlinger said. “If you’re familiar, it’s a ‘70s classic rock tribute band out of Cincinnati. They will be coming in for our event and we’re hoping they’ll be performing from 8 to 10 in the evening.” There are negotiations to bring the “80s tribute band ‘Rubix Cube,” Redlinger said. “They’re high energy and they do a lot of songs people are familiar with,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a really good band to keep our crowd alive and consistent until the end of the event.” “The goal of the night is to entertain without offending people,” said Rich Bentler, who is helping with bringing in the bands and negotiations. Ten to 15 people showed up for the meeting this morning. Redlinger said she is excited and happy with the ideas for the day’s events so far. “Really we just want to promote [the event] and get other people involved,” she said. “We’re still looking for people to do that.” People interested in volunteering can call the Chamber office to sign up, Redlinger said.